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Vittorio Orena
Victor "Little Vic" Orena (born August 4, 1934) is a powerful and vicious New York City mobster who became the temporary acting boss of the Colombo crime family. Colombo Crime Family, Biography Background Born in New York City on August 4th 1934, Orena's father died when he was a child. Orena spent time in a reform school and eventually dropped out of high school. According to his son, Orena entered the mob life because The wiseguys were the big figures in the neighborhood and the nice clothes,cars the "glamour" of it and the fact that some of these men had rough beginnings. In the early 1970s the new Colombo boss Carmine Persico allegedly had a dozen people "made" into his family, even though the "books" were officially closed, forbidding the introduction of any new members into the Mafia. One of these men was Victor Orena, who rose through the ranks and operated in Brooklyn, Long Island, and New Jersey primarily in labor racketeering, extortion, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, prostitution and loan sharking. Orena was a well dressed individual who projected a traditional business image. Brooklyn Capo In 1985, Carmine Persico and "acting boss" Gennaro Langella were convicted in the Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 139 years in prison. To run the family in his absence, Carmine Persico created a "Ruling Committee" of Orena, Joseph Russo, and Benedetto Aloi. With Persico both in and out of prison, Orena was able to set up operations almost everywhere in the New York and New Jersey area. When John Gotti became Gambino crime family boss in 1986, Orena was able to expand his criminal dealings with the Gambino crime family. Orena now became a top earner in the Colombo family. Orena also increased his influence with brothers Vincenzo Aloi and Benedetto Aloi, leaders of the Colombo Brooklyn faction. Orena was also close friends with Lucchese crime family mobsters Vittorio Amuso and Jimmy Burke. Acting boss In 1988, Carmine Persico selected Orena to be the acting boss of the Colombo family. Persico had disbanded the "Ruling Committee", which had been decimated by convictions and imprisonments. Persico's brother Alphonse was a fugitive and his son Alphonse (Allie Boy) was in prison. So Persico made Orena the acting boss In November 1989, Orena allegedly ordered the murder of Colombo mobster Thomas Ocera. Ocera was allegedly skimming mob profits, had let police seize Colombo crime family loansharking records, and had supposedly killed an associate of John Gotti. On November 13, Gregory Scarpa who was one of the Colombo crime family's most lethal, brutal and prolific hitmen, and was in fact an FBI informant with a 30 year relationship, Scarpa strangled Ocera to death with a length of piano wire. It was later known that Scarpa had no contact with Orena, in fact he was the catalyst in the plot to kill Orena, using his top hitmen Carmine Sessa and John Pate in the hit that failed. Most believe it was because of Orena's strong stance against narcotics, while Sessa and Gregory Scarpa and Page were secretly in the drug business. Scarpa, Sessa and John Pate all cooperated with the FBI. Power play By early 1991, Orena was accepted as a boss by the other bosses and the Mafia Commission. The other Bosses asked why Carmine Persico was talking to the press and wanted the Colombo family to address it. In addition, Persico had been negotiating for a television biography. Orena and several others, remembering how federal prosecutors had used Joe Bonanno's tell-all book as evidence in the Commission Trial, believed this proposed special would bring unwanted law enforcement interest on the family. In is alleged that Orena instructed consigliere Carmine Sessa to quietly poll all the capos but another version was that informant Greg Scarpa who controlled Sessa and had him inducted into the family wanted Orena out of the way because of his edict against narcotics. One thing that is known for sure is that Carmine Sessa and Gregory Scarpa and John Pate acted out with out permission from Persico in an attempt to kill Orena. After the failed attempt, they said it was done because Orena wanted to take over the family. Assassination attempt In June 1991, an assassination attempt was made on Orena, sparking the Colombo War. On June 20, 1991, a five-man hit team including Sessa, John Pate, and Hank Smurra converged on Orena's Long Island home and waited for Orena to arrive home. As Orena was driving down his street, he recognized several men in the parked car. Realizing they were waiting to kill him, Orena drove away. By the time the gunmen spotted Orena, it was too late to act. Smurra was later killed in the war, while Sessa and Pate cooperated with the FBI and testified against the same man they were trying to kill. Gregory Scarpa was behind the scenes at this point but came out with guns blazing shortly after. Greg Scarpa had been an informant for the FBI, for 30 years while killing and committing crimes. Gregory Scarpa claimed he was an agent, like James Bond Third Colombo war The Colombo conflict soon spiraled out of control. On November 18, 1991, William Cutolo sent a hit-squad to attempt to murder Gregory Scarpa, the Persico's top capo and a infamous and ruthless hitman. The team ambushed Scarpa with Uzi Submachine guns, as he was driving with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, but Scarpa and his family managed to escape unharmed. On November 18, Persico loyalist Hank Smurra, a member of the June assassination team against Orena, was shot dead. On November 29, Sessa survived a murder attempt while driving his car. On December 3, Scarpa sent a hit-squad to kill Orena soldier Joseph Tollino. Tollino escaped, but his companion, Genovese crime family mobster Thomas Amato, was killed accidentally. On December 5th and 6th, Cutolo sent teams that murdered Persico loyalists Rosario Nastasa and Vincent Fusaro. the week after Matteo Speranza, an innocent employee of a shop owned by Persico associates, was murdered by the a young Brooklyn underling Anthony Libertore and his want to be Father trying to make a name themselves with Joseph Scopo, Brooklyn Colombo's. The Libertore's co-operated with the FBI once imprisoned but were not found credible. By this time, the Colombo warfare was receiving a great deal of public attention. On December 16, 1991, the Brooklyn District Attorney summoned Orena and six other Colombo principals to a grand jury meeting to testify about the conflict. The mobsters all refused to testify. As the war progressed into 1992, Orena was indicted on charges of murder, bombing, arson and racketeering. To ensure his personal safety, Orena had gone into hiding at his girlfriend's new house, which was still under construction in Valley Stream, New York. Orena outfitted the basement into a small apartment for himself. On April 4, 1992, agents arrested Orena at the house. A search uncovered six hand grenades, two shotguns, three Uzi Submachine guns, ten Assault Rifles, four pistols, a large supply of ammunition, and a bullet-proof vest's. In testimony made in 1997, Gregory Scarpa Jr. would claim that his father planted the guns in the house to frame Orena. However, Orena denied this, and claimed that the guns, hand grenades, ammunition, and bullet-proof vest's were all his. Gregory Scarpa Jr. claim has never been proven. Imprisonment On December 22, 1992, Orena was convicted of racketeering, the 1989 Ocera murder, and other related charges. He received three life sentences plus 75 years in federal prison. By late 1992, the shooting war had petered out and Carmine Persico remained in control of the Colombo crime family. On March 10, 1997, a judge refused to overturn Orena's conviction. The appeal was based on an alleged conspiracy between Gregory Scarpa and his FBI handler, Lindley DeVecchio, against Orena during the Colombo war. On January 16, 2004, a judge denied Orena's appeal for a new trial. As of May 2013, Orena is serving a life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) near Terre Haute, Indiana. While in prison, Orena has become a Catholic Eucharistic minister, helping the priest administer the host and wine to inmates during Mass. Category:Colombo Crime Family Category:Colombo Capos Category:Bosses